GOVERNOR, MAYOR AGREE TO STRIVE FOR COURT REFORM

Governor Rockefeller and Mayor Lindsay agreed yester day to work on court reform through the development of program to submit to the Leg islature next year.

“I am hopeful that reform of judicial selection will be high priority for our joint sup port next year in Albany,” the Mayor said.

At the same time the presid ing justices of the Appellate Division departments in the city, Harold A. Stevens and Samuel Rabin, charged that the Mayor, in an interview pub lished in The New York Times yesterday, had smeared the State Supreme Court. Its prob lems, the judges said, are pri marily caused by lack of finan cial support from the city.

Text of justices' statement will be found on Page 41.

Reaction Is Strong

Mr. Lindsay charged in the interview that the Supreme Court was “instinctively un productive and subject to all the possibilities of venality one could possibly imagine.”

The Mayor's statements drew strong reaction from a num ber of politicians, judges and government officials. The re marks also produced the most recent of a long series of con frontations between the Gov ernor and the Mayor.

The two met yesterday at a breakfast meeting set up before the interview with the Mayor was published. Apparently Mr. Rockefeller was jolted by Mr. Lindsay's comments in the interview, and at a news con ference after the meeting he contended that the Mayor had denied making statements at tributed to him.

Interview Account Backed

“I'm just saying to you what he said to me,” Mr. Rockefeller told reporters, “that he had not said the things that were in this article. It Was entirely based on a 1966 speech.”

Told of Mr. Rockefeller's re marks, Mr. Lindsay issued statement denying he ever said that to the Governor.

“I firmly stand by today's account of my interview with The New York Times on court reform, and I affirmed this to the Governor this morning,” Mr. Lindsay said.

“Nothing in our conversation could possibly be interpreted by the Governor or anyone else as contradicting The Times story.”

Mr. Lindsay's 1966 speech was made before the Associa tion of the Bar of the City of New York and called for the appointment of Supreme Court judges on the recommendation of an independent screening committee rather than election.

Mr. Lindsay said he restated that view to Mr. Rockefeller yesterday morning and told him that he felt “even stronger about it now.”

At his news conference, the Governor said that he had urged the Constitutional Con vention in 1967 “to go to appointive judges” and that he and Mr. Lindsay “are on the same side of this issue, working shoulder to shoulder.”

Convention System Opposed

Under the present system voters select delegates to dis trict judicial conventions, and the delegates nominate candi dates to the court. The dele gates pre usually controlled by their party leaders, who agree on a single candidate for each opening. The chosen candidates are then nominated by both major parties in most instances and are therefore guaranteed election.

Mr. Lindsay charged in the interview that this led to cor ruption and inefficiency in the court.

He was responding in the interview to an article In The Times last week that outlined pattern of leniency by State Supreme Court judges toward the members of organized crime.

The Mayor and the Governor agreed yesterday that the court system needed reform and that they would work toward that goal, but there was some con fusion over how they would co operate.

Mr. Lindsay said in his statement that “the Governor and I agreed today to desig nate staff to work together on a joint legislative program for criminal justice reform to be submitted to the 1973 Legis lature.”

Ronald Maiorana, the Gov ernor's press secretary, said that Mr. Rockfeller simply had invited Mr. Lindsay to submit any ideas the Mayor had on judicial reform to the Gov ernor's counsel, Michael White man, who is assigned to de velop recommendations for im proving the criminal justice system.

Lack of Evidence Noted

Meanwhile Justices Stevens and Rabin charged that Mr. Lindsay had smeared the Su preme Court without any evi Idence to support his charges.

“If the Mayor had any knowledge of wrongdoing on the part of any individual judge, he is duty‐bound to give that information to the proper authorities rather than impugn the integrity of the court as a whole,” they said.

“Whatever problems may ex ist in this judicial system are due primarily to the failure of the fiscal authorities of the City of New York to provide the funding and resources nec essary,” the justices charged.

Michael J. Dontzin, the Mayor's counsel, said in re sponse that the city had dou bled its funds allocated to the State Supreme Court since 1967, from $29‐million to $58.3‐ million.

“And we have done this when most other areas have been cut back,” he said.

Mayor Accused of Hypocrisy

The Mayor also was criticized by Representative Edward I. Koch, City Council President Sanford D. Garelik and Coun cilman Ruth Lerner of Brooklyn.

All three accused the Mayor of hypocrisy for condemning the backroom political deals that go with picking judges, asserting that he had partici pated in such deals himself.

Mr. Koch said that the Mayor had used the Criminal Court, judges, “as a political patron lege tool.”

Mr. Garelik said that Mr. Lindsay's appointments to the 1Criminal Court had been mediocre and almost entirely motivated by political con Isiderations.

“He is not speaking from white charger when he talks about political influence in the courts,” the Council President said.

Mrs, Lerner said: “I thought it was ridiculous for the Mayor to make his charges, although they are absolutely valid in every way, because he has par ticipated in the same kind of political deals In making his appointments.”

Mr. Dontzin countered that most of the Mayor's appoint ments to the Criminal Court had been persons of high com petence and ability.

Mayor Lindsay and Gover nor Rockefeller have clashed on numerous occasions since Mr. Lindsay became Mayor.

Last January the Mayor was angered when the Governor suggested in his State of the State message that an old‐line political machine could run the city better than Mr. Lindsay.

In 1968 Mr. Lindsay was shaken when Governor Rocke feller refused to back him in his handling of the strike by sanitation workers and took over negotiations from him.

Mr. Lindsay is known to feel that Mr. Rockefeller is consid ering joining party leaders in the city in supporting a fusion candidate next year to replace him as Mayor.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this archives appears in print on October 5, 1972, on Page 97 of the New York edition with the headline: GOVERNOR, MAYOR AGREE TO STRIVE FOR COURT REFORM. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe